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Paddy Power 2012 profits rise 15pc

Tuesday, March 05 08:59:35

Profits at bookmakers Paddy Power rose 15pc in the full year 2012 to E139.2m on a string of good sports results, strong Internet trading and a marked improvement in its Irish operations.

The company clocked in annual revenues that grew by 25pc to E5.7 billion with its chief executive Patrick Kennedy saying the group now has nearly twice as many online users as it has in 2010 as mobile gaming has been adopted across its markets.

During the year the company also expanded its social media activities and opened 44 new shops in the UK.

The company said that its Irish retail operating profit rose by 32pc to E14.4m, driven by the ''normalisation'' of sports results. It added that like-for-like net revenue increased by 7pc while stakes were down 2pc.

It said its UK retail like for like net revenue rose by 7pc while operating profits soared 46pc to E15.3m for the year.

The board has proposed a 16pc increase in the final dividend to 81 cent per share. This brings the total dividend for 2012 to 120 cent per share, up 20pc on the dividend in 2011.

Paddy Power, which has entered betting markets in Australia, France, Canada and most recently Italy, said trading since the end of last year had benefited from favourable sports results with revenues up 19pc. That mirrored UK rival William Hill, which saw revenue rise by 20pc in the first two months on favourable results as it paid £424m for full control of its online business.

''This has been another strong year for Paddy Power. Our turnover grew by 25pc to E5.7 billion as payback from ongoing investment continued to deliver growth across the group,'' commented Paddy Power's chief executive Patrick Kennedy.

He said that the company's online operations is going from strength to strength.

''The adoption of mobile across our markets, combined with our e-commerce capabilities, technology and brand, means we now have nearly twice as many active online customers than we had in 2010'', he said.